Hello everyone !
I recently purchased a 2009 Cooper S and this is my first Mini. I've never done modification on a car before so any help would be appreciated.

My friends told me to get the parts from ALTA since they are reliable. THis is what they said I should get for Stage 1:

1.Boost Gauge
2.Cold Air Intake & Turbo Inlet Hardpipe
3. BOV
4. BOV block off plate ( i have no clue what this is so do i need this?)
5. Long and short boost tube
6. Turbo back Exhaust
7. Intercooler ( not sure if I need this part yet )
8. ECU Flash (should I get everything installed then flash or doesn't matter ?)

I'm planning on upgrade the brake system & suspension system in the future. What is the proper way to do this and what do you guys think ? Any help would be appreciated !!!

 

Depends on what your wanting to do as far as performance with your car. Do you want to get really into mod'ing out your car? Simple things are the intake. Next I would say your exhaust, maybe a down pipe back at 1st unless you want to knock it all out at once. Which something a lot of ppl do. As far as the rest their a little harder to do and will require some kind of mod back ground with. The intercooler you already have but its nice to upgrade, kinda easy just have to take off your front bumper plastics. I would go intake, exhaust, and then suspension parts. With the suspension you can spend a lot of time with due to all the parts you can upgrade for it. Just have fun and do research prior to buying anything. there's a lot of us here that can answer a lot of questions and be sure to check the forums out for how too's as well. Good luck and welcome to the family. Motor on

 

1.Alta is ok but not electronic ,I would buy a AEM or a Autometer with cravenspeed gaugepod
2.no Alta only sells hot air intakes, buy a Dos Cai or DDM works cai
3.no Bov do not add power if you buy a bov get a HKS(you will look fast and furious )
4.no will cause Check engine light to activate
5.no Alta is junk buy Nm Engineering hard pipes
6.no Alta is junk buy a Millitek or Supersprint
7.no Alta is junk buy a forge or helix
8.no Alta does not offer ecu tune but RMW does offer the best tune money can buy.


Do Brakes and Suspension first then do the power adders

 

Thats seems overly against Alta. I have quite a few of their parts and for the prices they charge I find them to be a very good company and I have had absolutely 0 problems so far. I don't think any of their products are junk. There may be a few better alternatives to some of their parts, but most of them are quite a bit higher priced and marginally better.

Gauges Id go with Craven just because they do what they do and they do it well. Alta's will serve just fine if you come across some.
I have Alta's Intake and Exhaust: I will probably changed the Intake because it is a little loud. I like to hear the BOV, but now I have the Forge which I can hear with a more efficient and quieter Intake. The exhaust is absolutely awesome sounding. One of the bets sounding 4 bangers around with that on there and it doesn't really drone too badly on the highway either.
Forge BOV Spacer will maker your solenoid valve quite loud and should be more than adequate if you're running stock boost.
I Went with H+R Springs, Alta Endlinks, and Alta 22mm rear sway bar for suspension. Very recommended on all of them. If you do a rear sway, be sure to change your links because a bigger rear sway bar will tear them apart.
For boost tubes I'd go NMEng but Alta's are quite good. I have a hot side from alta and a stock cold side with a noisemaker delete from DOS.
Forge and Helix make the best intercoolers hands down, definitely on my list.
RMW does offer the best tune, personally id pick up a handheld to have extra maps on the fly.

 

Wow...you guys are awesome !!!

Well, my goal is to maximize the stock engine outputs. I want to get the most HP and Torque out of it. I guess I would like to get to Stage 1 and then ECU flash it.
So none of you guys have the BOV block off plate installed ?
I only have 9000 mile on the car. Would it be a waste to do brake & suspension parts now ? If not, then which parts should I be heading toward ?

 

I'm perplexed as to why you want to jump right into all these mods. You're looking at a LOT of cash outlay there. Do you have a clear idea of what you're out to accomplish?

My recommendation would be to lose the runflat tires before doing anything else. Then consider a performance driving school - you'll improve the car's performance a LOT more by making yourself a better driver, than you will with a bunch of this bolt-on stuff, most of which has a horrendous bang-for-the-buck return.

 

I would do suspension and brakes first and wait for the BIG POWER adder that is coming soon .

 

I have Alta stuff on my car,the parts Alta does right are pulley,Shortshift kit and stubbie antenna .

 

Personally I'd do Intake and Exhaust first then do springs, a rear sway and Endlinks all at the same time. It is very much recommended to lose the tires, but at 9000 miles you wont get much back on them so I'd probably just run them down. Atm I have Ultra HPR tires (recommended by my tire guy) and I'm quite happy with them.
A block of plate pretty much stops the ait from going into your solenoid valve. Instead that air is released at a block of valve placed somewhere else (usually where the stock noisemaker would go). I don't think a BOV is really needed at stock boost, I like my Forge BOV spacer for a nice sounding BOV that is still controllable by your stability control system.

Modding your car is expensive and time consuming, but personally I find it not only nice to improve the car itself but learn about it as I do.

 

Well, the car only have 9000 mile on and the tires are pretty darn new so I don't want to waste money on it yet. I thought I should spend money on the POWER first since the car handle pretty well with stocks. But based on what you guys said I guess will do the brakes and suspension fist then loose the run flat tire. However, I don't think I'm gonna spend money on a performance driving school.

 

Do the suspension because the solution to making big power should be out in a few months.

 

My budget is $4000 and I guess I'll get all of them done at once and hopefully have some extra bucks left for the tuning.
The reason I want to get the BOV is because I want to get a BOost controller too. I don't know which Boost Controller I should get. and what is the maximum boost I should be running ?
Which suspension kits do you recommend and from what website I should get them from ?

Thanks guys

 

Hey Jamehunts, what do you think about the NM intake compare to the DOS & the DDM ?

 

You can't run a boost controllers on these cars.

The maximum boost you should be running is dependent on a lot of factors...that are not as simple as cranking up the boost with a ***.

You don't need a BOV.

You're going to wish you saved your $4000 for the coming months.

You're going to waste thousands on little parts, and then when bigger and better things come out you'll wonder why you wasted all the money on little junk like BOV's and boost tubes. That's what I think JamesHunt is saying about the Alta "junk"...their parts aren't bad per-say, just lots of marketing fluff

 

OH man, that really sucks that I can't use the boost controller. Are there no other way to increase boost on this car ? I'm still deciding which Intake to get among DDM, DOS or the NM. Jeez, I didn't know modding car is that complicated LOL !

 

Any more info on the solution to making big power, that should be out in a few months...?

 

+1 what he said ^

 

I think he may be talking about the Garret turbo or the RMW Handheld...both of which are out to the bets of my knowledge so idk....thats the two biggest power adders I know of

 

How much boost are you running right now ? How much boost can the stock turbo hold ?

 

I've heard as much as 20lbs of boost on stock turbo, but personally I wouldnt put it up over 13-14. Its a K02 turbo. It isn't meant for huge amounts of boost it is for reliable boost across the entire powerband. I'd rather 14lbs spools at 3k anyway as opposed to 7-10lbs at 3k and 20 at 5k.
If you want a large amount of boost you are going to have to upgrade the turbo to either a K03/K04 (JCW has a K03) or something similar and put in lower compression pistons (MCS is 10.5:1....JCW is 10.1:1). At that point you might as well upgrade all of the internals before you blow something up. It gets expensive real quick.

My recommendation; don't go for huge power. You're running a MINI, not a Mustang or a Corvette. Straight lines aren't our department. Go for some decent power upgrade without going nuts and if you're going to dump a lot of money into something, make it the suspension, lightweight wheels, brakes, and whatnot.

 

Do not put a boost controller on a mini
You will have mega problems.

 

Buy a Dos or a ddm.Nm only takes in hot air .

 

Big Turbo and Newman Cams

 

A Factory JCW can run 20+ psi and a justa cooper S with stock turbo can push 18+ psi .

 

Do not put a boost controller at all period.

For 4k, assuming it is all cash and can be spent as such:
I'd go with Coilovers: H+R, KW, etc. Do some research. Nice set of coils will run you half your entire budget. $1000-$2000
NM/Alta 22mm Rear Sway - $300
NM/Alta Endlinks Rear (Front also if you're doing coils). I'd match it to the sway - $250
DDM or DOS Intake - $400
NM Charge and Discharge piping - $450
Scangauge II for gauges - $150
EBC Greenstuff pads (personal preference, many other good pads out there) - $120

Total: $2670-$3670 ish

Add other random goodies, maybe some audio, rear seat delete, or whatever else makes it yours.
Prices are estimates - Not Actual pricing but about what you'd spend give or take like 10-20%